Hooksett School Board clash leads to meeting cancellation

By BENJAMIN C. KLEINUnion Leader Correspondent

HOOKSETT — Disagreements between Hooksett School Board members have resulted in the cancellation of a June 27 meeting designed to inform the public regarding Hooksett’s breach claim against the Manchester School District.

School Board Chairman Trisha Korkosz has accused Board Vice Chairman David Pearl of cancelling the meeting independently of the board, while Pearl has said that without the board voting to hold the meeting he had no choice but to cancel it.

“He cancelled the meeting without the authority of the School Board. We did not cancel it. He did,” Korkosz said.

Pearl said he has a different view of the situation, saying, “I never received authority to put the final touches on the meeting by the board. If I had that authorization I would not have done it. As a single board member I can not act without authority of the board. I am just trying to go by the book.”

The two did agree, however, that they both wanted the meeting to occur.

“This is something the community wants and I thought we were moving forward, but I guess we’re not,” Korkosz said.

For his part, Pearl said, “I am very frustrated, I wanted this meeting to happen, we had plans made, but on the 18th we should have hammered those plans out.”

During the June 18 meeting, Superintendent Charles Littlefield called the board “a rudderless ship.”

Pearl said that he was only given authority by the board to set a date for the meeting, but was never given approval to the format of the meeting. Korkosz said that it was her intention to discuss it at the June 18 meeting, but that once emotions of the board members began to run high, a motion was made to end the meeting early, leaving the issue still on the table. The next day Pearl said he called the venue and volunteers and called the meeting off.

Korkosz said Pearl was wrong in cancelling the meeting, adding, “He had every opportunity to poll the board and ask how to handle it, but he chose a different avenue. That is his prerogative, but I was trying (Friday) to find a way to make this happen. Evidently (Pearl) has chosen not to handle it that way.”

Korkosz said she has been trying to communicate with Pearl to try to figure out a way to make the meeting happen, but Pearl said he will not communicate with Korkosz unless it is by public email or in a public forum. Pearl said he is only willing to communicate that way because he feels that Korkosz accused him of bullying her at the June 18 meeting.